TOM WAITS: THE EPITAPH YEARS

My friend and former colleague Greg Wacks and I occasionally host public chats on Spreecast, the very cool and forward thinking company that he co-founded. Tomorrow we're discussing the more recent works of the great Tom Waits.   Last time we chatted, Greg mentioned that he doesn't really keep up with Tom Waits' more recent works, which floored me.  To me, if there's any artist in their 50s and up who has never embarrassed themselves or their audience, it's Tom Waits.  If there's any artist who still deserves your attention and respect after decades of service, it's Tom Waits.

In fact, his most recent era -- by my definition, the albums he's done for Epitaph Records' Anti- label - is my favorite era. That's probably sacrilegious to many longtime fans.

But I got into Tom via his classic collaboration with Primus -- "Tommy The Cat." The first new album he did after that era was his Anti- debut, 1999's Mule Variations. I know that Tom is an acquired taste, but I got into that album pretty quickly.  I'll say it's my favorite of Tom's albums.  The sounds are weird, but the songs are classic. I think Primus prepared me for Tom. Mule Variations has a lot of great tunes: "Big In Japan" kicks the album off, and actually features Primus backing him. I think the album has everything you'd want from Tom: weird, clang-y blues stomps like "Cold Water." Some of his really, really weird stuff like "Eyeball Kid" ("he was born without a body, not even a brow!"). And it has two of his loveliest ballads, "Hold On" and "Picture In A Frame" (the latter was covered by Willie Nelson).  I remember this album really blowing me away.

In 2002, he released two albums on the same day: Blood Money and Alice.  Each of them was attached to a different play.  Honestly, I didn't love either album, but I did really dig "Table Top Joe" (from Alice) and "Misery Is The River Of The World" (from Blood Money).

2004's Real Gone was almost as good as Mule Variations, and just as weird (if not weirder). That album has a bit of a hip-hop influence, but it didn't pander.  It's just that it had a looped, sampled sound, and there was turntable scratching going on.  It contains one of my favorite Tom songs, "Hoist That Rag."

In 2006, he put out Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards, a three CD set of songs that hadn't come out on prior albums.  "Brawlers" were the more rocking/blues songs, "Bawlers" were the ballads and "Bastards" were his weirder stuff.  One of the "Bawlers," "Long Way Home" (which he initially gave to Norah Jones) is one of his finest moments.

His next release was Glitter and Doom Live, a great concert album. Disc 1 was songs, disc 2 were the stories that Tom told from the stage.  Who else could even put out a disc of non-musical stuff and make it interesting?

And finally, last year's Bad As Me, my third favorite album of the year. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to make a case to Greg about the greatness of Tom's recent material... and hopefully I can turn some other people on to Tom also. 

JENN GRAUER: A MILLION FIRES

If you've read No Expiration for a while, you know that I generally am suspicious of trends;  I don't buy into  indie-rock's generally sexless songwriting, or its amateur-sounding production. So, when I first listened to Jenn Grauer's A Million Fires, it was really a breath of fresh air. It's pretty clear from listening to this music that Grauer has some musical training: both as a piano player and as a singer.  And if she doesn't, well, she's practiced.  A lot.  She puts thought into every lyric, every note, and the production.  The album has a timeless sound: it could have been recorded in the '70s, but then, it could have been recorded in the '90s. It's a collection of heartfelt songs that is sure to connect with an audience.

But, you may ask, what does she sound like?  Laura Nyro would be an obvious reference: there's also a physical resemblance.  I'd also mention Joni Mitchell.  Like Joni, you get the impression that Grauer has blinders to whatever is going on in pop culture (this is a good thing), and that she is confident that she knows her own path.  But there's also some blues in there.  Not so much the Clapton guitar solo blues:  more of the dusty, old, Robert Johnson/Bessie Smith strain of blues.

The album kicks off with "Stay."  A sad song of someone grasping at a relationship as it is slipping away.  It's not weepy. It's sorrowful on an operatic level: "Did you see right through me," she asks.  "Won't you come back?" she wails.  Most breakup songs have a "depressed" sound, as if the singer has been medicated.1v Grauer really makes you feel the loss, and you know she's feeling it.

"Round & Round" has a bit more swagger.  She sings in a mocking tone, "Needed to be free, needed to be free." What hurts more than having the person you want to commit to decide that he or she needs to be "free?" This time, you get the sense that the narrator, singing "Round and round, come back to me/round and round but first be free," may not be there when the subject comes back.  She's getting over it.

"Soldier Song" might not be out of place on Occupy This Album, although it doesn't mention politics. It's not about the horror of war as much as it's about the sadness and confusion of a soldier.  The narrative isn't so much about "right" and "wrong."  It's more about someone who is tired -- exhausted -- and wants to go home. The piano rolls don't convey violence, just dread.  "Soldier Song Reprise" ends the album and picks up the pace of the original version; the slower take seems to be a better fit for the lyrics.

"A Million Fires," the title track and album's centerpiece is pretty intense.  See the video here.  To give it some context, it's Grauer at her most "Tori," which I mean as a compliment as I am a big fan of Tori Amos.  "Song Unsung" is the song that most closely resembles a "hit," albeit a hit from the '70s Laurel Canyon scene.  I mean that in a good way of course!   "The Gathering" has almost a cabaret feel. Cynics might read that statement and detect kitch, but Grauer sings as if it's a new style.

It's a solid collection of songs: that said, my favorite Jenn Grauer song is not from this album.  "Do You Call This Love?" is a great modern blues.   It sounds like something you might have heard in a smokey club with a dirt floor in the '40s or '50s.  She has a great video for that one also, watch it here.

I definitely look forward to what she'll do next.  I have to give the full disclosure here:  I know Jenn, we've chatted about music a few times. But I like to think that I've established a certain amount of trust on No Expiration, and you guys know that I wouldn't write about someone if I didn't actually like the music. In Jenn's case, I stand behind it.

JACK WHITE AT ROSELAND 5/21/12

photo credit: Maria Ives 

It’s no secret to No Expiration readers that I’m a huge Jack White fan:  a couple of years ago, I named him No Expiration’s Best Artist Of The 00’s. I’m a fan of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, I dug last year’s Rome project, and I enjoy a lot of the 45s he puts out on Third Man Records. 

So this week’s show at Roseland was pretty cool: for the first time, he performed songs spanning all three of his bands.  It’s a solo tour, but on this tour, he has two bands: an all-guy group called Los Buzzardos, and an all-female group called The Peacocks.  Each day, he uses one band.  Our night was Los Buzzardos. 

A colleague who was also at the show said that Jack White is becoming the kind of artist who makes his fans “work for it.” And my friend and radio host Larry Flick says that Jack is probably surrounded by people who are probably afraid to tell the guy “no.” Both of them are probably right.  He’s very self-indulgent and also very ambitious.

And when an artist is ambitious, you can either go with him (or her) for the ride or not.  I’m all aboard.  I dug Monday night’s concert at Roseland.  He opened with one of his best songs, The White Stripes’ “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground.”  It turns out that it takes like five guys to replace the power of Meg White, but I felt that the song (and all of the renditions of White Stripes songs) really worked.  Later in the show they played “Ball & Biscuit” and I dug that also.

A lot of the show centered around Jack’s great solo debut, Blunderbuss. “Missing Pieces,” the opening track on the album followed “Dead Leaves.”  I think it’s one of the best songs on the album, and it was definitely rockin’ live.  “Sixteen Saltines,” “Hypocritical Kiss,” “Blunderbuss” and especially “Dead At 21” really worked for me as well. 

I loved that he played some of his one-offs, like Rome’s “Two Against One.” Also the song he did from last year’s The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams collection, “You Know That I Know.”

The songs by The Raconteurs and Dead Weather didn’t work as much for me, and I love both bands.  On “Steady As She Goes” I missed Brendan Benson’s vocals countering Jack’s (that said, I loved “Top Yourself”).  Ditto for “I Cut Like A Buffalo,” because as much as I like Jack, it’s hard not to miss Allison Mosshart’s vocals on that one.  So, even though The White Stripes are history, I hope Jack continues to work with his other bands. I think that they both have real chemistry and and identities.

The opening group was one of the most buzzed about – if not the most buzzed about  -- new band of the year, Alabama Shakes.  I’ve known about them for a while:  Pattersoon Hood name dropped them a lot last year, since they opened for The Drive-By Truckers.  They seem so far from what a “buzz band” usually is, they are very soulful and southern rock, and not very twee or fey or indie. Their singer, Brittany Howard has an incredible voice, and the group really rocks.  I don’t think they have the most distinct songs – but then again, maybe I just need to spend  more time with their album.  I think they have potential to be great, and I’m glad they’re getting the attention that they’re getting.

BRAD AT NYC'S GRAMERCY THEATER 6/23/12

photo credit: Maria Ives 

You can’t call Brad a “side-project” anymore, they’ve been around for almost 20 years.  They’re a band… a funky band and a great one. Singer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Smith, drummer Regan Hagar and guitarist Stone Gossard have been together for a long time, and they play like it (even though there are sometimes long breaks between albums).  They now feature bassist Keith Lowe and are often accompanied by multi-instrumentalist/singer Happy Chichester. 

When Brad first came out, Pearl Jam were the biggest, hottest band in the world, and I guess it was annoying to Stone and the other guys that people were showing up to their gigs hoping to hear Pearl Jam. That has, thankfully, faded.  And maintaining that they are their own thing has definitely paid off.  While Shawn Smith is the focal point of the group (he’s one of the greatest singers around), people go to see the band.  Everyone has their favorite songs, and favorite periods. I know: they skipped some of my favorite tunes! 

They opened with “Waters Deep,” a song that they gave away for free on their website, and went into a set that drew from their five album catalog.  For me, the highlight was “Every Whisper,” from their last album, Best Friends? (I wish they’d played “Bless Me Father” from that album as well, but I was lucky enough to film them performing it a few years ago). Two other highlights were their most rocking songs from their second album, Interiors, “Secret Girl” and “Sweet Al George.”

Photo Credit: Maria Ives 

But their most popular album is still their debut, Shame (indeed, when I posted to my Facebook page that I was at a Brad show, a friend immediately commented that Shame is one of her favorite albums ever).  I was totally stoked that they drew heavily from it towards the end of the show, playing “20^th Century,” “Buttercup” and “Screen.”

There were some great covers also: Shawn sat at the keyboard by himself for a solo segment, where he played Mother Love Bone’s “Crown Of Thorns,” and Prince’s “Purple Rain.”*  That was incredible, and a good reminder that Shawn has his own solo career, which is worth following as well.   As a band, they performed Neil Young’s amazing “Don’t Cry” (from his Freedom album).

photo credit: Maria Ives 

I don’t know what it takes to keep Brad on the road. I'm sure there's lots of scheduling issues involved, and I know it's not cheap to get them out there.  I know last time they toured they got a break when Band Of Horses offered them an opening spot (I’d have to think that they’d blow them away nightly). So, here’s hoping they get the break they need, because twenty years in, more people need to see this incredible band. I know they're reissuing their catalog this year, so it's the perfect time for people who have been missing out to get into this band.  Trust me, you'll dig it! 

*In a funny sidenote, I once filmed an interview with champion surfer Kelly Slater guest DJ-ing on Pearl Jam Radio, where he described going to see Brad and Shawn performing “ a couple of Prince songs.”   I tweeted the video once, and Shawn tweeted back at me that he only played one – “Purple Rain” – but he was flattered that Slater thought the rest of the songs were by Prince.  

WILLIE NELSON AT THE WELLMONT 05/17/2012

photo credit: Maria Ives 

I reviewed this show already for my day job at CBS Local, but I wanted to share a more personal version here.

Willie Nelson is timeless.  I rated him as one of the best artists of the '00s a few years ago. That's actually one of my only issues with seeing Willie live:  he mostly ignores his recent material.  I guess that some of his albums are so stylized it would be tough to reproduce, like 2009's collaboration with Asleep At The Wheel, Willie & The Wheel. But last year's Country Music was one of my favorites of the year, and I think he could have definitely played some of those songs. He did play two songs from the past few years, both songs I really like: "Superman" and "Beer For My Horses" (the latter written by Toby Keith).  I was glad that he played some stuff from his new album Heroes (I'll review that soon as well, hopefully). "Roll Me Up" was a lot of fun: the studio version features Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson and Jamey Johnson, but it was just as much fun solo. He also played his version of "A Horse Called Music" from the new album (a song he's recorded before). The version on the new album features the great Merle Haggard, but it was fine without him.

I did wish that Willie's son, Lukas Nelson, was there though:  he's such an important part of the new album, I figured they might have done more new songs if was there. I would have loved to hear their cover of Pearl Jam's "Just Breathe" (my former colleagues at SiriusXM shot a cool video of Willie and Lukas performing the song).

Of course, none of this is to say that the old songs weren't amazing.  Willie tends to barrel through his old songs in concert, and I kind of wish he'd slow down a bit.  But still, he has a lot of songs to play.  I'll never get tired of seeing Willie perform "Still Is Still Moving To Me," "Me and Paul," "On The Road Again," Crazy," "Funny How Time Slips Away" and "Always On My Mind." I wonder if *he* gets tired of them. He sure didn't look tired of them at this show.  And his guitar playing is awesome.  He is such a unique guitarist, I love listening to him play. His band, of course, was incredible: sister Bobbie Nelson plays piano, Mickey Raphael plays harmonica, and there's a bass player and a drummer  who plays a single snare.

I'm so glad that Willie is still touring, and if you have the chance, do yourself a favor and catch him in concert.  He's not just an American treasure, he's also gives everyone a damn good time.

PRIMUS: STILL SUCK, STILL BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE

Photo Credit: Brian Ives (really!)

Well, its hard for me to be objective about Les Claypool and Primus.  He's one of my favorite musicians, and I named him one of the best artists of the '00s. I saw them for the first time in nearly two years Saturday night at the Paramount Theatre in Huntington, New York (great venue by the way) and they were awesome.

I've seen Primus a number of times, and they've had their ups and downs.  I honestly think the current lineup - with Les, perennial guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane - is their best one yet. Jay was an early member of the band, but left the band before they really recorded anything.  For years, he played with Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead in Ratdog... and later in Further, which features Weir and Phil Lesh.

I saw Primus with Jay for the first time in the summer of 2010, a few months after he replaced Tim "Herb" Alexander. I thought they were great, and I love their latest album, the first with the current lineup, Green Naugahyde.

For years, Primus have been moving towards the jam band world and they are pretty much a part of it.  The musicians in Primus (all of them who have cycled through the trio over the years) are incredible musicians and fully able of improvisation.  But the years Lane spent with Bob Weir made him a sort of black belt in improvising, and it's made Primus a stronger band.  Not that they meander like (I feel) many jam bands do.  But they are better than ever at stretching their songs in different directions live.  I think that's crucial for them.  Les isn't the kind of artist to play the same songs the same way every night. And the ability to jam hasn't come at the cost of any of their power: they could tour with Rage or Sabbath or Soundgarden or Rush tomorrow, they haven't become a hacky-sack group.

As I mentioned, I really dig their latest album Green Naugahyde, and I was glad to hear a lot of songs from it live. "Last Salmon Man" was powerful, so was "Jilly's On Smack" and "Eternal Consumption Engine." "Eyes Of The Squirrel" was like a Floydian jam, and "Moron TV" was powerful also.  They also played lesser known songs like "Over The Falls" and "Southbound Pachyderm."

I think the fact that they play so much new material, and lesser known stuff - and by the way, the audience is 100% with them - that allows them to play their "hits" "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver," "My Name Is Mud" and even "Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver" with enthusiasm.

One great thing about the Lollapalooza era is that, for a time, it allowed some pretty uncommercial bands to break through.  None were more left-field than Primus.  Yes, they had some of the punk rock influences that everyone else did, but put that together with their love of King Crimson, The Residents and Frank Zappa... they are a totally unique band. It's so great to see that their fan base is as strong as ever. It's like a verification that they made all the right choices back in the day.

I'm a big fan of Les' solo projects, and it's always interesting to see what he'll do next.  But for now, I think Primus are on such a roll, that I hope they do another album really soon.

ROCK HALL INDUCTIONS: THE BEASTIE BOYS

I started writing a post "reviewing" The Beastie Boys' induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week, and planned to finish it either Friday or Saturday.  Obviously, it's a much different post now.

I've heard that Adam Yauch was admitted into the hospital on the same day that the induction took place.  I can only imagine the bittersweet feelings Adam Horovitz and Mike Diamond, and Yauch's parents, must have had, being at the ceremony that night.

I remember predicting that Chuck D would be the guy they'd call to induct The B-Boys and I'm glad I was right. Public Enemy had a long history with the Beasties, and he was so passionate about their importance.  I was glad that LL Cool J was also part of the induction. Chuck and LL deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame themselves, hopefully sooner rather than later.  (Rick Rubin was in the audience as a guest of The Red Hot Chili Peppers: it's interesting that he'd produced the Chilis, the Beasties and Donovan, as well as presenters Chuck, LL, and also Kid Rock who performed.  He should also be in the Hall of Fame soon!)

Chuck's speech was predictably longer.  But he made great points about how they always stuck together as a team, they were a TEAM of MCs, how they defied expectations and carved their own path. LL's speech was good too: besides pointing out that it was the Beasties who played his demo for Rick Rubin, he also noted that they really brought hip-hop to the suburbs.

Mike and Adam kept it pretty short.  I don't know how Adam H. kept it together while reading Yauch's speech for him.

Watching the performance a second time on TV, I liked it a bit better.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wisely asked The Roots to perform at that segment (instead of Paul Shaffer's group, the house band for the rest of the night, and for nearly every ceremony). They were joined by the Beasties' longtime DJ Mixmaster Mike.  Black Thought was on the mic, along with Kid Rock and Travie McCoy from the band Gym Class Heroes.  Black Thought was a given, he's one of the best MCs in the game and has been since he started. Kid Rock is obviously influenced by the group.  I would have gone with someone like Q-Tip, Nas or Mos Def for the third spot though. They pretty much stuck to the hip-hop and rock/rap hybrids.  I guess they had limited time, but I thought they should have addressed their instrumental funk prowess (which would be easy for The Roots) and their hardcore punk background (which Mos Def or someone like Henry Rollins could have done). Still, they put together a cool performance and they probably didn't have a lot of time to rehearse it.

If you have a chance to check out this year's Hall of Fame induction ceremony, you should do so, especially if you are a Beastie Boys fan.